Advantages of Actuation Actuator Systems in Growing Phase

The actuator system market is in growing phase and there is ample opportunity for market players for creating more advanced actuation systems in order to curb the cost of the aircraft.

The move towards more electric systems helps in reducing the weight of the aircraft and therefore, increasing the fuel economy. Fuel constitutes around 30% of the aircraft cost and this is a major driving factor for this market.

A lot of money is spent on the technology up-gradation of actuator systems. The hydraulic actuators systems have replaced pneumatic actuators in aircraft applications because of its various advantages, to deliver a great deal of power without taking up too much space or weight.

The number of new aircraft manufacturers will help in increasing the actuator market. Actuator is an essential part of an aircraft; it is used for flight control operations, landing gear, and for auxiliary control. It can be split on application basis as 45%, 40%, and 15%, respectively.

The lifecycle of a typical actuator technology is 30 year to 40 years and the R&D process generally consumes around three to four years. The future of actuator will be dominated by electromechanical actuator.

Other technological trends would be using plasma actuator for applications and piezoelectric actuation systems.